


Occult Boyfriends

by Raven_Ehtar



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Concensual and Not, Darkshipping, Enemies Are Lovers, Gen, Heartshipping, M/M, Mild Blood, Occult, Occult Rituals Don't Make Good Dates, Possession, Rituals, alternate beginning, awkward idiots, or maybe they do idk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-31
Updated: 2018-07-31
Packaged: 2019-06-19 09:08:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15506901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raven_Ehtar/pseuds/Raven_Ehtar
Summary: Yugi and Ryou have a lot of shared interests: they both like to play an inordinate amount of games, they enjoy the same kinds of food, they both feel a little bit like outsiders among their peers... they both like the occult... and both have access to ancient Egyptian artifacts...One night they decide to try out a new kind of ritual, using some of those artifacts. They were hoping for something just a little more impressive than what they'd seen in previous rituals. What they got instead will end up changing their lives, and the lives of everyone around them forever.(A one-shot for now. Basically a test of concept until/if I get the time and energy to continue it.)





	Occult Boyfriends

“Are you sure about this, Bakura?”

“… Mostly. You still want to, right, Yugi?”

“Well… y-yeah. It’s just… you know. What if we’re caught?”

“Who’s going to catch us? We decided to do this in my apartment to keep from being caught. No parents or grandparents to walk in on us.”

“I know. I’ve just got the jitters. This is the first time I’ve tried anything like _this._ ”

“Me too. But we’ve done all the research. We know what to do if things go a little weird. And we’ve done practice experiments. We’re not going in completely blind.”

“True…”

“C’mon. We’ve got some more candles to light. Make sure the book is where we can reach it.”

The two boys, who had already been working for nearly an hour to set the stage for their night’s activity, set about the final touches. 

It _would_ have been very awkward if either of their parents had ever seen what it was that they got up to behind closed doors. While neither family were particularly religious, both would have raised eyebrows on seeing the sort of demonic tomes their youngest members had dug up and read whenever they had a spare moment. They would have questioned the kind of paraphernalia that the teens spent their pocket money on, ranging from the shiny and pointy to the dried, chopped and smelling of spice racks - if the spice rack were in a witch’s kitchen. They probably would have drawn a line at the boys’ recreating the rituals found in the old, dusty books they found; rituals meant to summon ghosts and devils to speak with the practitioners. The families were not overly religious, but their boys practicing what amounted to devil worship would have been just a little too much to turn a blind eye. 

Which was why both of the boys were very careful when it came to their hobby. It was by sheer accident that they even found out that they shared such a niche interest as the occult, and had gravitated towards each other immediately. 

The occult was not a very fashionable interest. Those who were drawn to it were usually viewed as more than a little weird and creepy, and wound up being avoided by friends and classmates. Those who took up any of the actual practices of the occult - such as Ouija boards, fortune reading or curse crafting - were even more ostracized. Anyone who wanted to indulge in their interest and still maintain anything like a social life learned to keep those two things utterly separate. 

Finding a friend who shared that niche interest was rare indeed. 

Ryou Bakura’s apartment was the perfect staging area for his and Yugi Mutou’s current ritual because it offered absolute privacy. Despite on being sixteen, Ryou lived alone, and an empty apartment with a deadbolt was as private as they could reasonably ask for without finding some place out in the wilderness or an abandoned building. 

Since discovering their common interest the two of them had done several smaller rituals together, usually with mixed success. The more impressive results could usually be attributed to natural causes as much as anything else. Still, the boys were so taken by the trappings of the rituals themselves and with each other that they lost none of their enthusiasm. Small, questionable successes took on more weight in their minds and they planned larger and more elaborate rituals until they came to… this. 

“So, show me. I haven’t even seen the thing yet.”

Yugi hesitated only a second before going to his backpack and bringing out the final item he’d brought for the ritual. He’d brought a lot of the things they needed for tonight, most notably the candles and ritual dishes, but this was the most important. It was, in fact, the one item around which the rest of their night was based, and what had given them the inspiration to attempt what they were about to do in the first place. 

Handling it carefully, Yugi took out an object wrapped in a soft cloth. Going to the one table not strewn with the tools of their impending experiment, he set it down and unwrapped the cloth. 

Ryou couldn’t help the soft little gasp that came out of him on seeing for the first time what Yugi had brought. 

The lights of the living room had all been dimmed as the candles were lit. One electric lamp remained, but for the most part the two of them stood in flickering light. Under such light and in such a mood as was being built, the golden, arcane artifact Yugi revealed took on an almost preternatural glow all its own. 

It was, at its simplest, a box. About five inches in height, the same in depth and eight inches wide, it was covered on all sides with Egyptian hieroglyphics and on one side what looked like a simplified depiction of the Eye of Wadjet.

The fact that it was a bona fide artifact from Egypt made them both suspect that its golden color was no coincidence, that it really was made of gold. That added a secondary thrill, a heightening to the excitement that was already there, but the detail which arrested the attention of the two boys was what was written on the sides of the box.

“Can I open it?” Ryou asked with a hint of reverence. Yugi nodded.

The lid of the box was heavy, much heavier than the size of it would suggest, further convincing Ryou that it was made of gold. Inside lay a confusing jumble of angles and corners, pieces to some larger whole all tossed inside without any rhyme or reason. He picked one up out of the mess and turned it round in his fingers. It was just an angular shape, resembling nothing in particular, also gold and shining. 

“Your grandfather found this when he was in Egypt?” Ryou put the piece back carefully, resting back with its fellows with a little metallic _clink._

Yugi nodded again. “Yep, about thirty years ago. He says he found it when exploring someplace called the Tomb of the Nameless Pharaoh.”

“Do you suppose the Nameless Pharaoh is who is meant by ‘me’ and ‘my’ in the second message?”

The hieroglyphics on the sides of the box had long ago been translated by Yugi’s grandfather, Sugoroku Mutou, and then by Yugi himself with a little help from Ryou. They came out to two similar but separate messages. What they thought of as the first one ran, _‘The person who solves the puzzle will have their wish granted.’_ The second and more intriguing one said, _‘The one who solves me will receive my dark knowledge and power.’_

“I don’t know,” Yugi admitted. “The whole ‘me’ and ‘my’ thing doesn’t make much sense, really. Why make it sound as though the puzzle is the one speaking? And if it is the Pharaoh who is meant to be speaking, why would he talk about ‘solving’ him?”

“Maybe the soul of the Pharaoh was trapped in the puzzle after he died, and he’s been waiting all this time to be solved and released.” He said it with a smile, half joking. “If what we do tonight works, you can ask him yourself. Have you ever gotten close to solving it?”

Yugi pulled a face, staring into the box full of loose pieces. “Yes, I think. But I’ve been trying to put this thing together for almost eight years. And grandpa had been trying to solve it for even longer before he handed it off to me. I think that’s _why_ he gave it to me. He couldn’t stand to look at it anymore.”

“Eight years?” Ryou frowned, thinking. “That would mean your grandfather handed you an ancient Egyptian artifact - made of _gold_ \- when you were _eight?_ ”

Yugi smiled wryly. “My grandpa is a little… strange.”

Ryou thought the term that might fit better was ‘senile,’ but didn’t say so. He just shook his head and turned from the Puzzle to fetch something he had planned for the ritual and which Yugi had no idea of yet. “You know, Yugi, when you described the box and puzzle, I felt like I had seen it before. Then when I was visiting my father at the Museum, I realized I _had_ seen it before. Or at least something very similar to it.”

He turned around and held out the item he had taken from the Museum. Yugi’s jaw dropped when he saw it, and Ryou felt a little thrill of pleasure to have caused such a reaction. 

It was no wonder, when looking at the item in Ryou’s hands why it would remind him of the box, or visa versa. It was a golden ring which held in its center an upright triangle, which held in _its_ center another eye reminiscent of Wadjet. Around the outside of the ring hung five longish spikes, which swung freely as the ring moved. The whole thing dangled from a thick cord Ryou held in his hand. 

“What is it?” Yugi breathed, staring at the artifact. 

Ryou grinned, pleased. He liked to impress Yugi. He liked the look that came into his ridiculously violet eyes and how they turned on _him,_ making him feel important, knowledgeable, _seen._ He had to shrug, though, and admit his ignorance here. “I don’t really know. Nobody does. It just has a serial number at the Museum. My father just calls it ‘the golden hoop’.”

The captivated look dissolved a little, to be replaced with a troubled one. “It’s from the Museum? You _took_ it?”

“It was one of my father’s finds,” he said, a shade defensively. “And it’s not one they’ve been displaying or even studying that much. My father has had this thing for six years and they know nothing more about it now than when he first found it. Besides, I’m just _borrowing_ it. It’s not like I’m going to keep it after tonight.”

The troubled look softened slightly, but didn’t leave Yugi’s face completely. It was a much less pleasant expression to be confronted with, so Ryou did his best to distract and reengage Yugi’s enthusiasm. “I thought they sounded so similar that we could add this to the ritual. They both come from ancient Egypt and, even though this doesn’t seem to have any sort of curse or promises attached to it, we still might get something off of it in the ritual. Now that I’ve actually _seen_ the box, I’m even more convinced it will work.”

Yugi frowned thoughtfully. “How much would we have to alter in the ritual?”

“Not much. A few words here and there to make things plural and a few repeats of verses. We have enough of our supplies to cover a second foci. … What do you think?”

He was silent for a moment or two, thinking. The change in the itinerary was unexpected, and when going into something as potentially hazardous as a ritual meant to summon the spirits of the dead, Yugi preferred that everything be as structured as possible. The less left to chance the better. But this addition of Ryou’s sounded interesting, and the ring did remind him very strongly of the box and puzzle. It might even give their ritual a boost in drawing something to them. He looked up at Ryou, at the quiet steadiness in his face, his assurance. Ryou had more experience in the occult than he did, which meant he often deferred to Ryou whenever a question came up in their research. It also meant that he often relied on Ryou and looked to him when he was in doubt. 

Ryou was a firm foundation for Yugi, one he felt he could lean on with no fear of falling. He could trust him. 

He nodded, a shy grin spreading over his face. “Okay, let’s do it!”

With that the boys set about the final touches of their ritual, making sure that everything they would need was within easy reach and that they each knew the moves they would have to make at what times. 

Then all there was to so was the ritual itself. Taking their places and sharing one last encouraging smile, they began. 

This was the largest and most ornate ritual the two had ever done before, together or apart. As well as taking a rather intricate ritual as its base, Ryou and Yugi had added other elements to it as well to suit their needs. It borrowed heavily from European traditions, using many of the Western styles for its cues and structure, but added to that were plenty of Japanese elements and then as many Egyptian influences that they could find. Since the spirit or spirits they wished to call forth would be ones who originally came from Egypt, it felt right to add the third cultural influence. 

It made for a convoluted undertaking, but one which they were both willing to try. 

The room grew warmer with the heat of the candles and the air grew weighted with recited words and the musky scent of incense. Music droned quietly from a stereo in the corner, overlain with the repetitive chanting of the two boys. They moved at a fixed pace, to fixed points to perform actions which they had each done many times before. The whole atmosphere worked to be trancelike and to lull its practitioners to a point where their minds cleared of all else but what was in front of them. 

It worked, and soon Yugi and Ryou were lost to the rhythm of the ritual itself, and lost track of time altogether. For them nothing existed outside this space, the flicker of dripping candles, the warmth of their skin and the rustle of paper. 

Yugi lost all sense of himself and didn’t come back until he and Ryou stood, facing each other, with the two golden items laid between them. Almost drowsily, they took each others hands and sank down to the floor so they sat staring eye to eye. 

Yugi remembered what was meant to come next, and felt the first real stab of apprehension since they’d begun. He did his best to focus on Ryou’s hands in his, on the steadiness of his dark eyes to settle his own jangling nerves. 

Moving in time, they released each other’s hands and each took up a knife. This was the part which made Yugi the most nervous, and he sought out Ryou’s eyes again to bolster his courage. He offered his left hand, palm up. Ryou did the same for him. He laid his knife blade into Ryou’s palm, edge against the skin. Ryou did the same with Yugi, the touch of metal making him shiver in the close heat of the room. He was certain Ryou could see his fear, his hesitation, for he gave a small, encouraging smile and a nod. This was the element of the ritual which would truly set it apart from any others they had performed, besides the addition of the artifacts. If they backed out on this, then there would have been no point to any of it. 

Together, they drew the knives across each other’s palms. 

Yugi grit his teeth at the pain, but managed not to cry out. It hadn’t hurt as bad as he had feared, but it still stung, and his head went light with the rush of adrenaline. 

Each with a palm full of blood, they turned their hands over the items they had brought, Yugi’s blood trickling over the puzzle and Ryou’s over the ring. 

It might have been the adrenaline, but Ryou thought he could feel… something… take hold. With each little _plink_ of his blood hitting the ring, it was as though a heaviness were pressing against his chest, electricity crawling over his skin. He looked around the room, pulse quickening, but nothing seemed to have changed. The candles flickered a bit more than usual, but nothing else. 

He glanced at Yugi, who had looked so terrified a moment ago that Ryou had been afraid that he would back out. He still looked dazed, staring as his blood splashed against the golden box. 

Ryou held out the bandage set aside for this moment, but Yugi didn’t notice, nor did he hold out the bandage meant for Ryou. He just continued to stare at the box. 

Ryou began to worry, wondering if this had all been too much for Yugi. He considered calling his name, which would technically break their script, but with Yugi spacing out, it was already straining. 

He wasn’t given the chance, however. Still ignoring the bandage being held out to him, his left palm still bleeding, Yugi took up the box, opened it, and dumped all of the pieces out onto the floor.

Ryou stared. When he found his voice, he didn’t quite yell at Yugi, who was pawing through the pieces as though looking for something. “Yugi, what are you doing? Put this on, or you’ll just keep bleeding!”

For a second he thought Yugi would just ignore him, but eventually he looked up. His eyes, which had been so bright a few moments ago, had become unfocussed and far away, looking right through Ryou. He shivered, and Yugi spoke, in a voice as far away as his gaze. 

“I have to solve it.”

He turned away from Ryou again, eyes and hands on the scattered golden pieces. Even as he watched, Yugi found two pieces which seemed to have no relation to each other at all and fitted them together. 

“Yugi, are you alright? We should finish the ritual before you try and solve it, there’s still more…”

_“Unnecessary now, I assure you.”_

Ryou jumped. Heart pounding, he looked around for the source of the unfamiliar voice. 

There was no one. No one had snuck into his apartment without his noticing. But with no body attached to the voice he had heard, where had it come from?

Almost inexorably, Ryou found his eyes being drawn down to the ring spattered with his blood. 

_“Yes, that’s right,”_ the same voice came again, and Ryou realized that he wasn’t hearing it with his ears. It was arriving directly in his brain. _“With a set up like this I knew you must be very clever. Clever and not one to pass up a good opportunity, eh? You took the ring for yourself the second you thought you could get away with it. Good instincts.”_

“Who are you?” He asked it out loud, not sure which of his thoughts could be heard and which couldn’t by the voice that had intruded into his brain.

_“The one you were trying to contact with all of this business. And the one who is going to help you.”_

“Help me?”

_“Look at your friend.”_

Ryou looked, dazed. Yugi hadn’t reacted at all to Ryou speaking to someone who wasn’t there, something he could hardly fail to notice. He was still entirely focused on the puzzle and had, somewhat to Ryou’s shock, put what looked like a dozen pieces together already. Blood still dripped from his slashed palm, speckling the floor and smearing the gold. “Yugi…?”

_“He can’t hear you,”_ came the disembodied voice. It was male, deeper than his own and, to Ryou’s mind, somewhat menacing. _“Not really.”_

“Why not?”

_“Just as I am able to speak to you, the inhabitant of the Puzzle can now speak to him. He has caught your friend in a web already, and is forcing him to complete the Puzzle. If he does, it will prove most unfortunate for him.”_

“Why?” Ryou’s head spun. In a detached way he was keeping up with the strange turn the evening had taken, while another part of him was still trying to process that the ritual had actually _worked._

_“If the Puzzle is solved and the boy wears it, then the spirit within will fully possess him.”_

Ryou shuddered. A full on possession. It was the kind of thing he had only ever dreamed of seeing… But not with Yugi. 

_“You are… **particularly** fond of him, aren’t you?”_ The voice said it with a suggestive tone. Ryou blushed. 

_“I can help you to save him from such a fate,”_ it went on. _“All you have to do is to wear the Ring.”_

Ryou looked to where it lay on the floor, away from Yugi, who continued to piece the puzzle together at an alarming pace. “And allow _you_ to possess _me_ the way Yugi would be possessed?”

_“I would have some control,”_ the voice admitted. _“For a time. But only until your friend is safe. Then I will step aside for you. Trust me, I know who it is that resides in the Puzzle. He is much less reasonable than I am.”_

Ryou hesitated. He didn’t trust the voice in his head, but neither did he trust whatever it was that was inside the puzzle, which was nearly complete already. He didn’t trust the vacant expression on Yugi’s face or the mechanical way his hands moved.

_“It’s up to you.”_

Ryou moved. As Yugi’s fingers finished putting the final pieces in place, Ryou snatched up the Ring and slipping the cord round his neck.

—•—

The spirit of the Ring, once again in a body after thousands of years existing only in a golden trinket, grinned widely to himself and stretched new muscles. He watched as the other boy held the completed Puzzle close to him. He watched with interest as an almost imperceptible transformation took place as the boy donned the Puzzle.

He waited until the figure turned around and a familiar flash in the boy’s eyes confirmed the possession had been a success. 

He offered a grin of welcome. “Hello, Pharaoh.”

The Nameless Pharaoh returned his smile, teeth and bloodied gold glinting in the dim light. “Hello, Thief. Good to see you again.”

**Author's Note:**

> It ends abruptly, but there’s a reason for that. This was written during Story a Day May 2017 and I was out of time for the day. It’s actually less abrupt here than it was in the original draft.
> 
> No real plans to continue this right now, but it is a plot idea that I enjoy toying with, so I might eventually get around to it. For now we’ll call this a one-shot and maybe get a continuation sometime in the future. In the meantime if someone else wants to use this as a jumping off point for their own thing, feel free, I’d love to see what comes of it.
> 
> Also, don’t bleed on priceless ancient artifacts. It’s rude.
> 
> Thanks for reading! [I'm on tumblr](http://ehtarwrites.tumblr.com/) if anyone wants to come say hi or chat about nerdy things! ♥


End file.
